Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-10-27
Force is No Remedy.

] SlNltSIldn OtiSNINtu Vi luC
policy in Ireland. Force is no remedy,
echoes the public opinion of America
when Irish affairs are in question. Yet
there are Americans who, while hold
ing that this is true III regard tu Ireland,
accept for application to their own
country the contrary declaration that
force is remedy, and pin their
faith ON the pTacticability of making
men virtuOus by act of the Legislature,
Prohibition is just this violation IF
sound craftsmanship. philosophy and
economics. Ii has beeI sQuarely tested.
and after thirty years full trial in the
state cf its adoption its most earnest
advocates are compelled to admit that
! il has not succeeded. With curious in
consistency they cite its failure in
Maine as special reason for extending
the principle. Now the drink evil is so
papable and so mischieyOus that when
public conscience is aroused on it moth
ing is more natural than the first and
most sweeping remedies suggested
should be looked on with favor. Thus
the earlier movements on behalf of pro-
hibitiOn are honorable to their project
ors and proofs of public spirit. But
ahen experiment has demonstrated the
futility of ths supposed panacea il is
not sign of wisdom that lis applica-
tion should still he insisted on.
Prohibition has not succeeded in
Maine. Had it succeeded in Kansas
and Iowa? In the first of these States
it is notorious that the retail vending of
drink has been transferred from the sa-
loon to the drug store. To stop this
Draconlan laws have been enacted, and
as a result of these m0nstrous statutes
q poor drug clerk was the other day SEN
fenced to seventeen years imprison>
ment and FIVE Thousand dollars fine for
selling whisky. In State where they
are possible the most vital guarantees
of the Constitution must have been
overridden by fanaticism as reckless,
cruel and tyranuical as the worst Old
World despotism. Personal liberty is
lost when such outrageous punishments
are legalized, and that implies submis>
sion to oimpOsitioDs and wrong subsection
to which will soon destroy the spirit and
manhood of the people. Look next at
Iowa, where prohibition has had its own
way. 1t is significant that at Des
MuInes recently 500 leading men Joined
in solemn protest against the mainte-
nance of the alleged temperance policy.
Why? Because it has been shown in
Iowa that The laws which are drawn to
make prohibition coercive, dastic aud
not to be escaped, put such power in
the hands of Iawless executive officers
that there'is more liberty, more free
dom from espionage, i'll Moscow or st.
Petersburg during b NIhilist panic than
in the cities and villages of that Amer
icau State under the prohibition regime.
1t is only necessary to mention the
names of G. W. Potts and Frank Pierce
to kindle the Indignation of an IoWan.
Domiciliary visits. legalized house
breaking, intrusion into the family
sanctuary, and the inaiction of insults
and outrages such as even the Austri
ans in Italy never dared to venture
upon, have been the outcome of the
statutes intended to suppress the drink
evil.
Nature expelled returns another way.
w here il has been found possible to
stop the supply of drink wholly, the
opium vice has sprung up to take its
place. Druggists, and wholesale deal
ers testify that the opium habit ia grow
ing, and especially in prohibition dis
tricts and States. Nor should this sur
prise any one, for habits which are the
slow growth of centuries cannot be ex-
tirpated as one draws a tooth. And
this is why prohibition has always fail
ed to prohibit, and why it brings a train
vi 6NllS Win ~ OhO
manhood and independence of the peo>
pie more seriously than the drink evil
itself. The growth of natural temper
ance-temperaDce that is to say, which
is the result of conviction and vOlunta
Ty abstention-h8s been proceeding
steadily all this century, and the Inn
provement already attained is most en-
couraging. The Republican party fa-
vors the application of restrictive legis-
is prepared for it. The Prohibitiouists
insist ON making believe to wipe the
evil out of existence at a single stroke.
They cannot do this. Their impotence
is proved. But they can trample con-
stitutional rights, make the freedom of
the citizen a mockery, establish an odi>
Gus and corrupting system of espionage,
make liars and hypocrites Of men, and
build up conditions of cant, fraud and
believes in trusting to the intelligence
and conscience of the people. The Pros
hibitionists believe in bulldozing the
people, and treating them as if'they had
no Judgment or discretion. This is an
un-American method. The Republican
policy is in full accord with the genius
of our institutions, and, moreover, it is
the only scientific, reasonable and effect
i've way to deal with the drink evil
n. Y. Tribune.
THE remains of Gen. Judson Kilpat-
rick, one of the foremost cavalry lead